With some fanfare, the Singapore government announced that Singapore's economy grew 17.9% in the first half of the year. A superb number…that most Singaporeans couldn’t care less about.
The reason is very simple; most Singaporeans had not received any benefits from it.
With a number like 17.9, you would expect that things are rosy and Singaporeans would be upbeat about the future. Not even close! In Singapore, most Singaporeans are now worried about their jobs which are under threat from free-flowing intake of foreign workers; housing prices that are too high for them to buy; public transport that are more expensive and more crowded than before; flooding in the city which the government claim is unstoppable etc.
Frankly, if the Singapore economy did grow by 17.9% in the first half of the year, I (like most Singaporeans) sure didn’t notice it. The best thing about the 17.9%?
This is an election year so I won’t be surprise if the government “suddenly” decided that Singaporeans should received a bonus payment to their CPF account just before the election due to the good economic numbers.
2 comments:
It all depends on which number you pick. SG gov likes to use GDP as benchmark. With more foreigners flocking in to the country, of course the number will go up. Why do u think the gov is so foreigner friendly?
25% increase in population may have increased the GDP by 17.9%. Not a good number in economical sense. But when taken out of context, 17.9% improvement is a big number don't u think? ;P
If they use it to give money to Singaporeans, no Singaporeans would care. Frankly, I’m not that impressed with the numbers because it is received on the backs of many problems (rising prices, housing) which the government just ignored in the race for the GDP numbers.
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